Dread Lords are incredibly powerful demons who wield the powers of darkness and mental domination. These cunning, malefic beings
once served as the demon Kil'jaeden's most trusted lieutenants. Yet, at Kil'jaeden's request, the vampiric Dread Lords were sent
to watch over the Lich King Ner'zhul, and ensure that he carried out his orders to sow chaos in the mortal world. Though Dread
Lords have been known to revel in the gore of single combat, they generally prefer to manipulate and beguile their enemies from
the shadows.

The Dread Lord is a powerful and popular Hero. Typically most Undead players pick the Dread Lord as their first Hero followed by the Death Knight or Lich. All of his abilities are especially useful. The main reason players pick the Dread Lord first is for Sleep, which is useful against enemy Hero rushes and for disabling powerful Creeps for the early Creeping part of the game. The Vampiric Aura also heals Ghouls when they attack the Creeps and enemy units that do not have Spell Immunity. Vampiric Aura is very useful in team games. Carrion Swarm can be used to damage collections of units. Inferno is helpful for clearing trees and for summoning the powerful Infernal. Inferno can also be used to break the spell channeling of enemy Heroes.

While the Dread Lord has a melee attack he isn't the best melee fighter. It's better to keep the Dread Lord away from combat when facing large opposition. Also, be sure to run away if attacked. It's best to give caster items to the Dread Lord rather than melee items but melee items can help.

Dread Lord Counters
Use the Demon Hunter's Mana Burn, surround and kill with melee units, or use ranged units with
focused fire.

Carrion Swarm
Sends a horde of bats to damage enemies.

Level

Duration

Cooldown

Mana Cost

Range

Area of Effect

Allowed Targets

Effect

Hero Level Req

1

N/A

10 sec.

110

70

15

Air, Ground

75 damage per unit, max 300

1

2

N/A

10 sec.

110

70

15

Air, Ground

125 damage per unit, max 600

3

3

N/A

10 sec.

110

70

15

Air, Ground

200 damage per unit, max 1000

5

Carrion Swarm Information
Carrion Swarm can cause great damage to enemy units, especially low hit point units such as
ranged units and casters. While many players prefer Sleep, Sleep can only put an enemy unit
out of action for a limited time. Also enemy players can just wake up their unit that has been
slept. Carrion Swarm on the other hand can noticeably take a large chunk out of the enemy.

Carrion Swarm is also useful if another allied Dread Lord in the game is using Vampiric Aura.
That frees up some points you can place in Carrion Swarm since they already have Vampiric Aura
covered.

Carrion Swarm does not hit wards.

Sleep
Puts a target enemy unit to sleep. A sleeping unit can be awoken by attacking it.

Level

Duration

Cooldown

Mana Cost

Range

Area of Effect

Allowed Targets

Effect

Hero Level Req

1

20 (5) sec.

6 sec.

100

80

Unit

Air, Ground, Enemy, Organic

Unit put to sleep

1

2

40 (10) sec.

6 sec.

75

80

Unit

Air, Ground, Enemy, Organic

Unit put to sleep

3

3

60 (15) sec.

6 sec.

50

80

Unit

Air, Ground, Enemy, Organic

Unit put to sleep

5

Sleep Information
Sleep is an incredibly powerful spell. Good use of Sleep can help determine the outcome of the game.
Use Sleep on enemy Heroes to put them out of action. Use Sleep on Heroes that are attempting to run away.
Surround them with your Ghouls or Abominations then attack them once they are trapped.
Cast Sleep on the most powerful enemy units
to take them out of the battle. This can often turn the tide of the battle in your favor. Cast Sleep on the most powerful Creeps before
attacking them. You can cast Sleep again on the enemy after they have awoken. This is truly one
of the most annoying spells to the enemy. This spell is even more powerful with multiple allied Dread Lords. They can put a whole army to sleep!

Use Sleep on Heroes trying to cast spells that must be maintained such as Blizzard, Death and Decay, Tranquility,
Starfall, and Earthquake. This will stop the enemy from casting these spells.

Sleep Counters
The most common way to defeat Sleep is to
wake up your unit by attacking it with your own unit. Be sure to stop the unit attacking the slept unit as
soon as it wakes up. Sleep becomes less powerful when the enemy attacks their own units to wake them up, but this
can still cause control nightmares for the enemy. Sometimes they continue to attack their own units after they are awake. This also
shifts their control focus away from attacking you and more on waking up their own units which is in your favor.

Night Elves can use the Demon Hunter's Mana Burn or a Wisp's Detonate.

Just kill the Dread Lord. Dread Lords are pretty easy to kill if you surround them with units and trap them
from escaping.

Vampric Information
The Vampiric Aura works very well with Ghouls. The Vampiric Aura is especially useful in large
team games with allied Grunts, Footmen, Knights, Tauren, and Bears. Be reminded that Vampiric Aura
doesn't work with ranged units so it's not useful with Crypt Fiends or any other ranged units.

Inferno (Ultimate)
Calls an Infernal down from the sky, dealing 50 damage and stunning enemy land units for 4 seconds in an
area. The Infernal lasts 180 seconds.

Inferno Information
Inferno is an awesome ultimate ability since you gain control of an Infernal. Infernals have permanent Immolation and
do Chaos damage which allows them to do full damage to all armor types including buildings!

Inferno is useful for clearing trees. Cast it on a section of trees you wish to Clear.

Inferno is useful for casting on an enemy army. It's a great way to spawn in the Infernal because
enemy units in the area of effect take damage and are stunned when Infernal lands.